Video: Northern lights seen shimmering from the International Space Station

(NEXSTAR) — The sun has been especially active recently, sparking strong geomagnetic storms over the weekend. Conditions were just right , causing a “major disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field.”

The “disturbance” meant many got to see the northern lights dance (or at least shimmer) across the night sky. That includes those in Wisconsin and Minnesota — two states that frequently have at least a slim chance of seeing the northern lights — and as far south as California’s Yosemite and Joshua Tree National Parks.

There’s no doubt that the northern lights can be mesmerizing for those of us on Earth.

However, a handful of people 254 miles up in the sky may have gotten an even better view.

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick shared a timelapse on X Monday, seen above, showing the moon set into the aurora.

Streams of green light appear to wave along the right side of the screen, opposite of a glowing pink area. Then, a vibrant red veil of light seems to grow over the green streams. As the video goes on, even more green streams appear before fading into the distance.

The video ends after the spacecraft is suddenly bathed in a blue light, which Dominick said was the sunrise.

What causes the colors in the aurora?

When plasma and magnetic material hurled out by the sun collides with Earth’s magnetic field, particles are sent flowing along currents to the North and South Poles.

As they move, those particles interact with the oxygen and nitrogen in our atmosphere, creating excess energy. All that energy makes bursts of light that we see as the aurora, NASA explains.

The color those bursts appear as will depend on the gases involved and where the action is happening.

The green lights seen in the video above are the most common and occur when particles interact with oxygen between 75 and 110 miles in altitude. If oxygen and nitrogen are “excited by the incoming particles” at the same altitude, we can see blue aurora, NASA explains.

Slight lower, 60 miles and below, an interaction with nitrogen will cause pink northern lights, like those seen on the opposite side of the green streams in Dominick’s video. Above 120 miles, interactions with oxygen spark red aurora.

Like mixing paint, when these colors blend, you may see purples, whites, and other shades of pink.

Our eyes aren’t always able to see the shimmering northern lights, even though we know they’re out there. However, your phone’s camera (as long as it’s newer) may capture it because they are often more sensitive than our eyes, according to Michael Bettwy, operations chief of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

Alix Martichoux contributed to this report.

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